Dried Up: Poker Boy, #15

By Dean Wesley Smith

Asked in the middle of the night to help the dangerous race called Silicon Suckers, Poker Boy faces a challenge like none other.

He and Front Desk Girl risk their lives to help the alien-looking creatures, but then come face-to-face with what their bargain just might mean in the future.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WMG Publishing
• Release date: Sep 22, 2016
• ISBN: 9781536576856

Dean Wesley Smith

Considered one of the most prolific writers working in modern fiction, USA TODAY bestselling writer, Dean Wesley Smith published far over a hundred novels in forty years, and hundreds of short stories across many genres. He currently produces novels in four major series, including the time travel Thunder Mountain novels set in the old west, the galaxy-spanning Seeders Universe series, the urban fantasy Ghost of a Chance series, and the superhero series staring Poker Boy. During his career he also wrote a couple dozen Star Trek novels, the only two original Men in Black novels, Spider-Man and X-Men novels, plus novels set in gaming and television worlds.

Book preview

Asked in the middle of the night to help the dangerous race called Silicon Suckers, Poker Boy faces a challenge like none other.

He and Front Desk Girl risk their lives to help the alien-looking creatures, but then come face-to-face with what their bargain just might mean in the future.

CHAPTER ONE

I VERY SELDOM get the feeling that something is wrong while sleeping beside Patty Ledgerwood, aka Front Desk Girl. In fact, until that very moment, it had never happened. Nothing ever seemed to be wrong when I was with Patty and not on a mission.

I get the something-is-wrong feeling at poker tables all the time, usually when another professional player is attempting to bluff me out of my shoes and all my money. I have learned to pay attention to that feeling, almost as if it is one of my superpowers. By paying attention, I have saved myself a ton of money over the years.

Right now I was in Patty’s apartment near the University of Nevada, Las Vegas campus. In her master bedroom, to be exact. I could hear her regular breathing beside me, which told me she was sound asleep. The wonderful smell of her rose perfume filled the air and the feel of her expensive, fine-cotton sheets against my mostly bare skin felt wonderful, just as they always did.

Patty had had the day off, and we had spent it together; first at a movie, then a nice dinner at the buffet at the MGM Grand, and then back to her apartment to cuddle on the couch and watch television before heading to bed.

It didn’t get much better these